Kevin Wilson is an author who doesn't know how to write a bad book. Run for the Hills is no exception. The only difference is this book is shorter than most and has notes of sweetness too. It still has all the humor we expect from Mr. Wilson but I just felt he really wanted to tell a different kind of story. Just under 250 pages and it's a book that you could put in your purse or book bag and pick up and out down and just savor each chapter and have that desire to go back to it and still feel connected to the story. Its about siblings who didn't know they were sibling and end up finding each other and want to meet their father. They jump in a CT Cruiser and head across the country meeting quirky characters and figuring ot what it will be like to meet their father and what it will truly mean to them. I just loved this book. My sould needed to read something like to forget the world! raed it and enjoy. Thanks to Ecco books and Netgalley for the read.

Summer 🤝 road trip books. Kevin Wilson’s latest release follows a loveable crew of siblings who have never met before as they embark on an epic road trip to track down their missing father— a man who disappeared from each of their lives without warning years (or even decades) before. Along the way, adventures abound, as they do on any good road trip!

RUN FOR THE HILLS was less quirky and original than the other books of Wilson's that I’ve read, but his signature wit and frankness were definitely still present. I felt so much warmth and tenderness for the characters and appreciated the later-in-life coming of age story for the older siblings. This impressively struck the balance of uplifting, but never saccharine.

There were a few areas that left me wanting more, though. There’s a pretty narrow focus on their missing father in the book, which makes sense given the circumstances, BUT I couldn’t help wanting a little more insight into the characters’ broader lives. I also didn’t find the ending wholly satisfying. It felt a bit anticlimactic after so much lead up.

To put it in road trip terms, I enjoyed the journey more than the destination here, but I’d still recommend this as a warm, hopeful book with an edge. In particular, if you love stories of found family, pick this one asap!

🌟🌟🌟💫/5

Kevin Wilson's new novel "Run for the Hills" has a lot of heart and tells about a group of half-siblings on a road trip to find their estranged father. Their father has periodically left his family behind and started anew in different parts of the country. The story has a lot of humor and strong character development.

"So you're just on a fact-finding mission to create an oral history that explains the actions of our dad? You're going to each family and kind of upsetting the order of their lives?"

Attention, Elon Musk! You're not the ONLY serial-fatherer out there.
(Just the creepiest!)

Four recently acquainted siblings head for California to find their father, and discover why he left each of them only to create a new family in another state.

A new Kevin Wilson book is always cause for celebration, so I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this one more. Perhaps its because the novel seems more plot than character driven. Maybe it's because I just finished Ariel Courage's Bad Nature, a similarly themed road trip tale about a woman on a collision course to reunite with her father. (And, in my opinion, Courage did it better.) Or, maybe it's just me . . .

Give this one a try. You may enjoy the trip far more than I did.

Run For the Hills is a road trip book. And a search for a father. And like all Kevin Wilson's books, it's not your basic story.

What do you do when your father up and vanishes?
How does that impact your childhood, your young adulthood, your middle adulthood? Four different times, Charles Hill has left a family. Four disparate siblings team up to find him.

It's heartwarming and heartbreaking. There's near death and reaffirming of life. There's similarities and differences and love and anger. And a PT Cruiser.

Kevin Wilson puts so much heart and soul in his books. They are always a treat, and quirky and thougt provoking. Read it!

I love stories that are centered around siblings. So a novel about a roadtrip with recently acquainted adult siblings, was the perfect story for me.

Reading this book felt like meeting a stranger in a bar and having them drunkenly tell you their life story. You’re interested and highly entertained, but you know they’re leaving some things out. You desperately want to know those things. You’re begging them to tell you more, but they vomit on your shoes and make a run for the restroom. You’ll always remember the moment. And you’ll always wish you knew more.

Cute road trip book, but, honestly was a little hackneyed for me. I loved Kevin Wilson’s earlier novels, but this one didn’t quite hit for me. A recent road-trip book that I enjoyed more was Annie Hartnett’s The Road to Tender Hearts.

A winning, instant classic roadtrip story of found family. Wilson's tale of surprise siblings hunting down their serial-abandoner father is full of heart and reminds us that even the most prickly people deserve and need love.

This book is such a delight. The characters could not be more perfect or lovable. The plot is unique and well executed. As the journey in the PT Cruiser begins, so does the reader’s discovery of the the characters’ personalities and the lovely blossoming of their new sibling relationships. As each new person is added to the car, so is the amount of the love, compassion, and spunk. Their little found family is such a beautiful thing to watch bloom. There are many unanswered questions at the end, begging the question of a sequel? I would totally read it! Won’t get those Hills off my mind any time soon! Infinite thanks to NetGalley and Ecco Books for the wonderful privilege of reading the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. I couldn’t be more thrilled with this book!

I was delighted by this heartwarming, captivating story of an unusual kind of road trip - several half-siblings who had all been abandoned by the same father and who had never met before.

I have loved all of Kevin Wilson's previous books and the quirky characters in this one live up to what I've come to expect: interactions among slightly odd humans that build into relationships and remind readers of what life is all about. Love and connection.

Funny and poignant, I truly enjoyed embarking on the journey with the unusual found family of half siblings. I did have a few questions towards the end and it seemed like something was missing or unfinished. A bit anticlimactic but still well worth a read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Ecco publishing and the author for granting me the opportunity to read an eArc of this intriguing and lovely novel. It was published on May 13, 2025, so go grab a copy!

Once again, Kevin Wilson writes a story that is like no other. It's bizarre. Made is living her lovely farm life when Rube pulls up and introduces himself as her half-brother. Together they set off on a road trip to find their long lost dad who defected from both their lives, and also to discover other half-siblings that exist from their father's secret families whom he has also left along the way. It is a road trip of discovery and they find they are not alone in the world like they thought and so much more. Interesting with some humor, but eclectic. many thanks to #
net galley #kevinwilson for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Kevin Wilson never disappoints. Crisp writing with humor and emotion. A sweet story about the family we are born into and the family we make for ourselves.

Road trip books often aren't for me, but I love Kevin Wilson, so I picked this up anways. I'm SO glad. The sibling story took any cliches away and grabbed me by the heart and pulled me all the way through. This is perfect summer reading.

Their father was a good parent, until he upped and disappeared from their lives, one by one, never to be heard from again. That is until Rube Hill shows up at Mad Hill’s organic farm and suggests a road trip to find their two half siblings and their father.

I love a good road trip, but road trip books can be hit and miss. This one is a hit! I love Wilson’s ability to combine a quirky unique group of characters into a heart warming found family. This is a deep character study filled with both hope and redemption wrapped in humor and sentiment. I loved the quiet nature of the book including the ending, which can seem somewhat anticlimactic, but I found fitting. This is my second book of Wilson’s and I will need to go back and read his other books!

4.75 rounded up.

A family road trip in a rented PT Cruiser. What could be better? Add in a bunch of half siblings that dont know each one exists and the quest to find the father that abandoned them all and you have Run For The Hills.

The four siblings are all unique in their own way, including a nickname and passion that can both be attributed to their missing father. The nicknames make sense to each other, the passions? Not so much!

As the four drive from TN to CA, they gain so much more in each other than they ever lost when their father left. The story and characters are quirky, unique and easy to like. Their journey and relationship is heartwarming and special. Definitely a lovable book.

Advanced reader copy provided by Ecco and NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

Kevin Wilson delivers another thoughtful, off-kilter story that balances humor and heart with his signature style. Run for the Hills is both funny and unexpectedly moving, full of characters who are strange in all the best ways—flawed, real, and quietly resilient.

The book explores how we run from what scares us—and how sometimes, the running leads us right where we need to be. Wilson’s wit is sharp but never cruel, and his warmth sneaks up on you. It’s not a loud or flashy novel, but it lingers.

Overall, it’s a satisfying, quietly powerful read that sticks with you.

Road trip! This starts with Madeline "Mad" still living with her mother on their successful farm in Tennessee 20 years after her father left them. Then a man in a P T Cruiser announces to her he thinks he is her half-brother and her life turns upside down. It seems her father had left another family and another incarnation of himself before he met her mother, and after he left them, he started another family and another persona, and then left them. And who knew what after that. But Rube (the half-brother) thought there were at least 4 of the half-siblings, and he was traveling across country to meet them and see if he could track down their father and find out Why? And does she want to come along? She realizes, well, yes she does. And they are off on a rather madcap journey across the continent, gathering siblings along the way. This is a story about the characters, and about their relationship, no, their memories of their relationship with their father during idyllic childhoods that all ended in abandonment. The writing is lovely, the characters original, and the emotion very real. The trip is fun, but it's all about the people. Highly recommended.

I received a free DRC of this book through Netgalley. I have previously read at least 2 other books by this author, but this is by far, my favorite book of his. The book is about a man who is a serial monogamist, and has one child with each woman, but leaves when the child is around 9 years old. The children (40s, 31, 21 and 11 years old) find out about each other and go on a road trip to find him. The relationship between the children is at once strange and familiar just as I'm sure being in that situation IRL would be. The children must each deal with abandonment issues as well as suddenly not being an only child. I found this book emotional and bursting with humor.

Not my usual romance, but it sounded like an interesting story, so I really wanted to read it. And I was right. It’s a very good story. Unique. Funny. Quirky. Great characters who come together under odd circumstances to build a relationship with each other and possibly confront the father who left them all behind.

Thanks to Ecco for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Run for the Hills is out NOW!

4.5

I love Kevin Wilson and his quirky characters and couldn't wait to read this one, and it did not disappoint!

Madeline "Mad" Hill is busy with her life, running an organic farm with her Mother. Her Dad left them twenty years ago, just disappeared without a trace. One afternoon a strange man, Reuben "Rube", in a PT Cruiser shows up at the farm and tells her he's her half brother. He was also left by his father, thirty years ago. Since the death of his Mother, he hired a private detective to track him down. He has tracked him down to California, and also discovered at least 2 other half siblings. He asks Mad to go along for a road trip to meet the other half siblings and eventually meet up with their father. Along the way they all tell stories about their Dad, who just seems to totally reinvent himself into a different man in each life, then just leaves it all behind and starts over again. They get to know each other and try to figure out how they will fit into each others lives too. They just all may be what they need in their lives.

It's a sibling story unlike any I've ever read. It was zany, funny and also very heartfelt. I'm not sure how Wilson comes up with these characters, and as crazy as they are, they just work! And they also worm their way into your heart. I think he is a true gem in the literary world and I will read anything he writes!

Thank you to @netgalley and @ecco for this #gifted copy. It's out now, so do yourself a favor and put it on your Summer reading list!